Antoine Dupont crowned best player in the world after his Olympic title

Another trophy. Another reward. Antoine Dupont was voted best 7s player in the world this Sunday at the World Rugby Awards held in Monaco. The Stade Toulousain player is currently on another planet. Already considered one of the best rugby players at XV (if not the best), he becomes the first player to receive this global distinction at XV (he had been in 2021) and at 7. This year, the French scrum half was not in the running for the individual XV title because he only played three matches with Fabien Galthié's Blues on the international scene (Japan, New Zealand and Argentina during the tour of November), not participating in the last Six Nations Tournament or the summer tour in Argentina, to prepare for his Olympic dream.

Antoine Dupont joined the French septists at the start of the year and, after participating in several training courses, he allowed France 7 to win three titles in 2024. After winning the Los Angeles stage of the world circuit, the Bleus du 7 had won the world title by winning the final in Madrid. Before the Olympic coronation during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. During the final, the Toulouse player – elected revelation of the world circuit this season – was dazzling, scoring two tries and delivering a decisive pass during the 7 minutes of his entry into play in second half-time. In 21 matches, he scored 11 tries.

He sent a powerful signal to this team: “I want to come with you to be Olympic champion.” When the best player in the world tells you that, it transcends

Jerome Daret

Among the others named, we found his teammate Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, author of four tries during the Games and now a player of the Section Paloise, and the Irishman Terry Kennedy, already a winner in 2022. It was the first time that two Tricolores 7 were nominated for this distinction. In 2016, after the Rio Olympics, Virimi Vakatawa was among the three nominated but the trophy went to the South African Seabelo Senatla. This Sunday is a day of glory for French rugby sevens since, a few minutes earlier, coach Jérôme Daret had been elected coach of the year, ahead of the XV technicians.

The remarkable feat achieved by Antoine Dupont (who also achieved the Top 14-Champions Cup double with Toulouse) was praised by All Blacks legend, former fly-half Dan Carter: “A lot of people underestimate how difficult it is to go from the 15s to the 7s, so the fact that Dupont was able to do it seamlessly and have immediate success shows what an incredible athlete he is.” Thanks to the excellent collaboration between the FFR and Stade Toulousain, the Gers phenomenon has more fully devoted itself to its move to 7.

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A perfectly successful adaptation and praised by Jérôme Daret, his former coach who became manager of France 7: “He arrived with a lot of humility, to challenge himself too. He sent a powerful signal to this team: “I want to come with you to be Olympic champion.” When the best player in the world tells you that, it transcends. He arrived on tiptoe but also with some fears, he didn't know what it was going to be like. But I knew it was going to do it.”

The 7 “certainly helped me to find a little of the game of duels that I had a little more before”

And, from this enchanted parenthesis at 7, the Toulouse player with his already well-rounded track record – four Brennus shields (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024) and two Champions Cups (2021 and 2024) – gained additional strength. After a well-deserved vacation, he came back even sharper and more motivated. “The training, the efforts I made by making more accelerations, changes of pace, support, long races, surely helped me to regain a little of the game of duels that I had a a little further, he admitted. His return to XV was flamboyant. Just four minutes after coming into play against Clermont, he planted a first banderilla in the Clermont defense, before scoring two other tries, all in less than ten minutes. On another planet. What his teammate François Cros confirmed this fall: “It was something incredible for him and incredible for French rugby. He cut, but he came back just as strong, if not better.”

For the French 7s team, the huge spotlight has now passed. The world circuit will resume on Friday in Dubai, now with a new status to assume. And without the now best player in the world of the discipline. But Stephen Parez-Edo, executive of the French team, is not worried: “We will perhaps be talked about a little less, because Antoine Dupont attracts more people. But the arrival of rugby union players, whether one-off or over a longer cycle, we are used to it. Today, the priority is really to rebuild a group.” Waiting for Dupont to return for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028? He won't be 32 yet…